What is Good About Moulin Rouge?- Page 2

[Jungle Red]

Posted: 5/20/13 at 2:01pm

The movie starts with Nick in a sanitarium, telling his doc about Daisy, Gatsby and Tom. Its been a while later, and the doc tells Nick to write his story. Hence, "In my younger..."

I don't know if the convention works as well as it does in Moulin Rouge!

[Jungle Red]

Posted: 5/20/13 at 2:01pm

The movie starts with Nick in a sanitarium, telling his doc about Daisy, Gatsby and Tom. Its been a while later, and the doc tells Nick to write his story. Hence, "In my younger..."

I don't know if the convention works as well as it does in Moulin Rouge!

[Roscoe]

Posted: 5/20/13 at 2:08pm

Oh dear God. Shame on them for adding that. It is most definitely NOT a factor in the novel. Ridiculous.

[Jungle Red]

Posted: 5/20/13 at 2:12pm

There's no point. It adds contrast, because present day is drab and dreary, cold and wet, and snowing, and the story takes place during the summer, but that's it.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 5/20/13 at 2:36pm

And it gives Luhrman an excuse to incorporate whole sentences verbatim from Fitzgerald's book into the film, whether they make sense or not. Presumably as a balm to purists to prove that "see? he really respects the book"...

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 5/20/13 at 2:51pm

I thought the institution was a dumb idea too.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 5/20/13 at 5:00pm

The movie starts with Nick in a sanitarium...

Reason enough to save $10.

[all that jazz]

Posted: 5/20/13 at 5:10pm

Gaveston, if you haven't seen it yet, the art direction and production design alone are worth the price of admission.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 5/20/13 at 5:15pm

Is that all movies are supposed to be? "Pretty to look at?"

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/20/13 at 5:19pm

Honestly, that's all I expect from Great Gatsby and precisely why I want to see it. There are times in life when "pretty to look at" is precisely what someone needs.

[all that jazz]

Posted: 5/20/13 at 5:22pm

No Carlos, the movie as a whole is spectacular, those are just factors that stood out to me.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 5/20/13 at 5:22pm

I believe you, jazz, but I think GATSBY is the Great American Novel and I'm not sure I can see it subjected to hip hop. Maybe I'll watch it at home where *I* control the sound. LOL.

***

BTW, to those above who think "there's not much to the novel", its subject is nothing less than how we are betrayed by the American Dream.

[all that jazz]

Posted: 5/20/13 at 6:08pm

Yeah, I was completely dissapointed with the contemporary music, but fortunately it's only in the first part of the movie, mainly in the party scenes. I found the story to be quite compelling and Gatsby's life to be inspiring.

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/20/13 at 6:24pm

Guys Nick is in rehab, he's not insane. It says on his chart (which they show on the screen) that he's in there for alcoholism and severe depression.

I actually liked the convention of having him in rehab, reflecting on those heady, gin-soaked days.

It worked for me.

It's the ONLY way, in my opinion, that Nick can get away with "speaking" in Fitzgerald's voice and using even a bit of the original text.

Nobody talks that way in real life. They never have and never will. Nick is writing everything down as part of his therapy. The conceit worked for me.

Updated On: 5/20/13 at 06:24 PM

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 5/20/13 at 10:37pm

The comparisons to Ken Russell are apt. I think of Luhrmann as Russell's giddier, happier younger brother. If he could just get Hugh Jackman and Ewan Macgregor to do a nude wrestling scene...

It took some time for me to warm up to MOULIN ROUGE but now I do quite love it, even though the editing is too freakishly fast, which hurts the choreography. I still think its Nicole Kidman's best performance and Macgregor holds the whole thing together almost miraculously.

[Jungle Red]

Posted: 5/20/13 at 10:47pm

When I owned it on DVD, I watched it so much it finally stopped working all together.

I love the editing, especially during the Tango Roxanne.

Like I said about The Great Gatsby, Baz knows when to be over the top and when to be subtle.

[all that jazz]

Posted: 5/20/13 at 11:05pm

Baz should've directed the Phantom film and he should direct LND.

[Jungle Red]

Posted: 5/20/13 at 11:12pm

LND? Fill me in on that one.

I don't know if a movie version of Phantom would've worked even with a better director and better actors. I think, like Gatsby, the story doesn't hold up when it's not in your face calling chandeliers and such.

[all that jazz]

Posted: 5/20/13 at 11:16pm

Oh no, there's no plans for an LND film that I know of. I just think that he would do wonders with that material.

[Jungle Red]

Posted: 5/20/13 at 11:20pm

You misunderstood me. What does LND stand for? I'm thinking Little Night... Nope.

[all that jazz]

Posted: 5/20/13 at 11:22pm

Oh, sorry... Love Never Dies, the sequel to Phantom.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 5/21/13 at 9:10am

"Guys Nick is in rehab, he's not insane. It says on his chart (which they show on the screen) that he's in there for alcoholism and severe depression."

OK, that makes a little more sense. I still can't make up my mind to see the film, somehow. I've never been able to work up much enthusiasm for this story at all.

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 5/27/13 at 9:35pm

I didn't enjoy the movie it all when I saw it. I've always found it overrated. Also, I was surprised that it made into AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals over 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'. That movie made many of it lists.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFI%27s_100_Years_of_Musicals